UA Agri Professor Flies Kites For Farming Research

Monday

Aug 4, 2014 at 3:15 AM

Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the only way to do things.

Sometimes the old-fashioned way is the only way to do things.

To get around the Federal Aviation Administration’s regulations on flying remote controlled aircraft for "commercial purposes," University of Arkansas agriculture professor Larry Purcell developed a kite-and-balloon method to take aerial shots of soybean fields in his research to develop more drought-tolerant plants.

"It’s been a steep learning curve," Purcell said of his alternative method. "Most of the equipment has been hand-made."

Kite aerial photography, it turns out, has a considerable following, according to a UA news release on the subject. Purcell said he received considerable input from the kite aerial photography community in his mission to monitor fields and identify drought-resistant plants.

In this research supported by a grant from the Arkansas Soybean Promotion Board, Purcell initially wanted to use a remote controlled aircraft to take infrared and color images of soybean crops. However, the FAA deemed his research a "commercial use" and issued a cease and desist letter in 2011.

The holder of the Altheimer Chair for Soybean Research at the UA Division of Agriculture turned to Benjamin Franklin’s time-tested research tool: The kite.

Once launched, Purcell and his research assistants walk the kite or balloon across a field while a camera shoots a sequence of infrared or visible light photos. Infrared measurements of plant temperatures reveal drought stress before the soybeans show any physiological sign of it.

The photos are downloaded to a computer where the infrared pixels are correlated with temperatures and average values are assigned to segments of a field. Visible colors of the plants indicate water use. The color photos are used to identify genotypes that do not have a shortened seed-fill period in response to drought.

Purcell said the information gathered from aerial imagery can be widely applied to other agricultural uses.

"There’s a huge gap out there with data collection, and farmers want this information," Purcell said.

Research has shown, the release adds, that soybean plants remain cooler than others under drought conditions. Purcell has identified molecular markers in plants that use deeper rooting to draw water from deeper strata in the soil. He has also discovered that those same makers are associated with higher yields. Once the best plants are identified, Purcell said the genes could be bred into other plants with traditional growing methods.

Early work on drought tolerance required measuring temperature and rating the color of plants on the ground. Weather conditions had to be consistent to get accurate data and the atmospheric conditions often changed before the field could be examined. The aerial monitoring speeds up the process and gives more accurate information.

Purcell may not have to rely on the kite method forever though. The FAA is showing signs of easing up on its "unmanned aircraft systems" restrictions.

In early June, the FAA gave energy corporation BP and unmanned aircraft systems manufacturer AeroVironment permission to fly an AeroVironment Puma AE "drone" for aerial surveys in Alaska. It was the first time the FAA had authorized a commercial use of a "drone" operation over land. The FAA had previously approved the companies to fly a "drone" surveillance operation over the Arctic Ocean.